Problem with Internet explorer 7

I cannot access the internet using Internet Explorer which I always been able to do.

I get the message regardless of which site I try to access:

Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage
Most likely causes:
You are not connected to the Internet.
The website is encountering problems.
There might be a typing error in the address.

But I can access the internet by using AOL.

I suspect I have a bug somewhere altho Norton Anti-virus says everything is OK.

 

If you can get online using something else (like AOL or Firefox), then we know your internet connection is healthy, and that the problem is with IE. So, here's some stuff to try:
Launch Internet Explorer, and click the little downward-pointing-arrow next to "Tools" over on the right side near the top, and make sure "Work Offline" is not enabled (it should have a red 'X' next to it like in the 1st screen shot below). If it was enabled, try going on line after disabling it. If it was already disabled, or if disabling it had no effect, try this:
Get to your Internet Options (either via the Control Panel, or click the "Tools" arrow again and select 'Internet Options' at the bottom of that menu). Make sure you have a valid home page entered in the "Home Page" box under the "General" tab. Then click the "Connections" tab, click the "LAN Settings" button. All of the boxes here should be unchecked (2nd and 3rd screen shots below). Then close IE, and re-open it. If this has no effect, you may need to uninstall/reinstall IE7, or possibly install IE8, or reset/rebuild your Winsock registry keys and the TCP/IP, but we'll get into that later if the above steps don't work....
Good luck! Let us know how it goes!

 

. . . one other thing . . . Norton has been known to completely block Internet Explorer from accessing the internet for no apparent reason. I've seen it happen many times; Firefox or Opera will surf fine, but IE won't. As soon as Norton is uninstalled -BAM!- Internet Explorer works perfectly. In these instances, I've found that even turning off or disabling Norton doesn't restore IE connectivity, Norton must be removed. But this is a last resort, so we'll try lots of other things before we think about removing Norton.....
:-D

 

Thanks ! The "proxy server" box was checked. I unchecked it and all is well again. Many Thanks ! !

 

:dood :celebrate Happy to help! And glad to hear all is well!

(NOTE: many of the new generation malware infections commonly use the "enable-the-proxy-server" method of disabling Internet Explorer; I suggest you run a scan with something other than Norton; use MalwareBytes and/or SUPER Antispyware to be sure you're 100% clean)